Wednesday, January 05, 2000
TRISTATE DIGEST
Bop Club director dies
FORT WRIGHT — Larry Ronald Chapmon, 54, one of four directors of the Cincinnati Bop Club, died Monday at University Hospital from injuries suffered in a fall at his home Saturday.
Mr. Chapmon, an electrical technician for Panel-Fab Inc. in Woodlawn, was 54.
He was an original member of the club, which formed in 1992. The group, with more than 500 members, is one of the largest jitterbug dance clubs in the country.
Mr. Chapmon fell in love with shag dancing, a jitterbug style, while stationed from 1963 to '68 with the Air Force in Charleston, S.C.
“He felt the music from deep inside (his) soul, and it radiated through his smile and his smooth-moving dancing feet,” said Robyn Beck of Hamilton, a club member.
He was a former employee of General Electric Aircraft Engines in Evendale, and helped organize the Park Hills Memorial Day Parade each year. He was a member of the Oakley Masonic Lodge and the Scottish Rite Temple in Covington.
Surviving are his wife of 28 years, Angela M. Robbins Chapmon of Fort Wright; two daughters, Amy and Katie Chapmon, both of Fort Wright; a brother, Thomas of Port Richey, Fla.; and three sisters, Mary Nimmo of Port Richey, Patricia Schorry of Rotunda West, Fla., and Elaine Nelson of Batavia.
Visitation 4-8 p.m. today at Connley Brothers Funeral Home, 11 E. Southern Ave., Covington. Mass of Christian burial 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Anthony, 485 Grand Ave., Taylor Mill. Burial follows at Mother of God Cemetery, Fort Wright. Memorials: charity of choice.
Ft. Washington Way gets good safety marks
Safety is excellent on the Fort Washington Way reconstruction project, according to a recent audit of the $280 million overhaul of the riverfront expressway.
The project received 98 of 100 possible points, and the work time lost because of injury is one-tenth the national average, according to the audit.
Emergency possibilities are covered with written procedures, site work rules are enforced and updated annually, and hazardous operations have procedures that are posted at the job locations, according to the Safety Systems Analysis conducted by Parsons Brinckerhoff Construction Services. PBCS is an independent affiliate of Parsons Brinckerhoff of Ohio, in Cincinnati, the lead consultant on the Fort Washington Way project.
The Fort Washington Way construction is straightening and narrowing the highway that stretches from the Brent Spence Bridge to the Lytle Tunnel. It is scheduled to be done in August.
School board cancels Project Succeed meeting
The Cincinnati Board of Education has canceled its meeting for 11:30 a.m. today, due to scheduling problems.
Board members were to meet at the district's Corryville headquarters to discuss the fate of Project Succeed Academy, the North Fairmount school for chronic discipline offenders. A November study found that the school had little effect on students' behavior and costs $1,800 per pupil more than other kindergarten-through-grade-8 schools.
That discussion will occur later this month.
Police lieutenant named Dean's Scholar
Cincinnati Police Division Lt. Roger W. Wolf has been named a Dean's Scholar in the 102nd Administrative Officers Course of the Southern Police Institute.
Lt. Wolf, assigned to the police division's inspection section, recently earned the distinction by making all A's in the academic program designed to enhance the professional development of police administrative and command personnel.
The Southern Police Institute is a division of the University of Louisville's Department of Justice Administration.
Lt. Wolf, who has a bachelor's from the University of Cincinnati, joined the police division in 1981 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1997.
Fairfield man gets year for fatal car wreck
A Fairfield man was sentenced to one year in prison Tuesday for causing a fatal car accident last year.
Prosecutors say Raymond Walling, 21, swerved his car off Elberon Avenue on April 18 and slammed into a tree. A passenger in the car, Michael Watson, 20, of University Heights, was killed in the crash.
Another passenger, Sabrina Morgan, 28, of Price Hill was injured.
Mr. Walling pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. He was sentenced by Judge David Davis.
New tornado sirens to be tested today
The first test of new tornado sirens in Union Township, Butler County, will take place at noon today.
The activation of the 11 sirens, installed last month throughout the township, will be the initial test of the outdoor system designed to help warn of tornadoes and other dangerous weather.
The sirens cost $150,000 to buy and install, and each is designed to broadcast a warning over a four-square-mile area. Subsequent tests will also be at noon on the first Wednesday of each month.
4 arrested in killing of medical consultant
WASHINGTON, Pa. — A medical consultant from southern Ohio who disappeared on a business trip was shot to death after being abducted and robbed, state police said.
Authorities charged four men Monday in the disappearance of Ira E. Swearingen, 49, of Winchester, Ohio, after police said one of the attackers told his story.
Mr. Swearingen's body had not been found, authorities said Monday. He was last seen renting a car at Pittsburgh International Airport on Dec. 12. Five days later, the Pontiac Grand Am, which had been burned, was found in Greene County in the southwest corner of Pennsylvania.
Alexander H. Martos, 32, of Bentleyville, Pa., Gregory S. Modery, 29, of McMurray, Pa., Robert W. Petrick, 34, of Bentleyville, and John S. Shaker, 31, of Las Vegas, were charged with conspiracy to commit homicide, robbery and aggravated assault, among other charges.
Informant is killed at former safe house
COLUMBUS — A police informant in a vehicle-theft ring was killed in a drive-by shooting at a safe house that he left because police thought it was no longer safe.
Billy John Decker, 31, had returned to the house to pick up a few things when he was killed Dec. 19, said David DeVillers, an assistant county prosecutor.
“When he went back, someone was there waiting for him,” Mr. DeVillers told the Columbus Dispatch for a story Tuesday.
No one has been charged in the shooting.
Revised nude-dancing ban is thrown out
CLEVELAND — A federal judge has ruled against a rewritten state ban on nude dancing in bars as too restrictive on other forms of entertainment.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich granted a preliminary injunction that stopped the Ohio Liquor Control Commission from enforcing the ban in the 40 counties that make up the court's Northern District of Ohio.
The state will follow the judge's order but has not finished reviewing the decision, spokeswoman Susan Watiker with the Ohio Department of Public Safety said Tuesday.
Taft takes dim view of state employee in ad
COLUMBUS — Gov. Bob Taft is taking another look at ethics policies after a state Human Services administrator appeared in ads for a computer company that has millions of dollars in contracts with the state.
John Hurd, a deputy director for management information systems with Human Services, praised computer systems bought from Novell Inc.
In the governor's office, news of the ad “wasn't a big hit,” Taft spokesman Scott Milburn said Tuesday.
“It's not something that he wants to happen,” he said. “We're reviewing our policy on this to see that it doesn't happen in the future. Public employees aren't celebrity spokespeople.”
City workers renew bias claims
4 hospitals overwhelmed, divert patients away
Tornado damage heavy, not deadly
Area recovering from storm drenching
Flynts give up on downtown shop
Police widow waits for death-benefits appeal
Rhodes, Luebbers won't run for commissioner
Settlement reported near in jail death
2 students arrested in bomb report
Killer's sister gets probation for help
Ohio Girls Scouts offer new cookie
Patton address highlights workers
Dems add asterisk to GOP-led Senate
N.Ky. gets prime Senate seat
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Cleveland polishes musical gem
Six weeks of programs marks hall reopening
Theaters only one act in Cleveland rebirth
10 health tips for 2000
Work to make sex fun, doctor tells women
GET TO IT
Santana works his magic with 10 Grammy nominations
Three Cincinnatians honored as arts patrons
Who wants to watch a game show?
25-year-old charged with murder
Bus ad suit renewed
Edgewood schools tap Slone as new treasurer of district
Erlanger police get new office
Fire heavily damages Indian Hill house
Firefighter kicked out of training program
Funeral today for 4 family members
Indiana budgets $1.4M to curb problem gambling
Law: Review of police limited
License penalty reviewed
Mayor bows out as candidate for recreation job
Middletown commissioners select Sennet as chairman
New Y offers options for all
Rec center is a local asset
Schools find little savings after audit
TRISTATE DIGEST
